Kaki May Not Give HIgh Quality Persimmon Fruit in the Desert

Q. When will be a good time to transplant a Kaki persimmon tree and will it do well in Las Vegas?
A. I am curious why you want to use the kaki species of persimmon. It is considered to have inferior fruit to improved varieties of persimmon.

It will do as good as the other persimmon. All persimmon are not a desert tree so it will need to be planted in a spot less damaging than for cactus and other desert suitable plants. East side or north sides are best. Keep it away from reflected heat and light. Soil should be heavily enriched with compost at planting and a wood surface mulch should be used 4 to 6 inches deep keeping it away from touching the trunk. Kaki is used for rootstock for other better varieties of persimmon. Fuyu, Giant fuyu, Chocolate, etc have superior fruit.

I contacted my friend Tom Spellman from Dave Wilson Nursery for his comments.

Comment from Tom Spellman at Dave Wilson Nursery.

Bob, Kaki is a common term used for persimmon. D. kaki is used as a rootstock as well as D. lotus. All growers in the United States choose to use lotus as it is much easier to bud onto and, contrary to some opinion, much more comparable and long lived. We have experimented with kaki rootstock several times and the bud stand is never good enough to even begin to make a profit.

You know how persimmon does in the Nevada desert. You must protect it from the most extreme heat and sunburn.